Tens of thousands of homes still without power as Storm Arwen rages over UK

Tens of thousands of Britons are still without electricity after Storm Arwen raged over the UK on Saturday night.

Three people have already been killed by falling trees as the storm brought gusts of over 100mph and torrential rain.

Transport links across the country were also thrown into chaos when the extreme weather hit on Friday. Hundreds of passengers faced cancellations and delays to train services and flights.

Yellow weather warnings for wind and ice remain in place over large parts of Scotland and the North East of England, while a rare red weather warning issued for wind for the east of Scotland expired on Saturday evening.

More than 100,000 homes in Scotland lost power on Friday night due to the severe damage caused across the country.

Scottish Southern and Electricity Network (SSEN) confirmed that around 45,000 customers were still without power as of 11am on Sunday, with many unlikely to see their electricity restored “for several days”.

The utility firm urged customers whose power is down, particularly those in rural and isolated communities, to make “alternative arrangements where possible”.

Mark Rough, director of customer operations at SSEN, said: “We do expect to make good progress today and restore power to significant numbers of customers who remain off supply.

“However, as it is likely to take several days before each and every customer is restored and the network is back to normal operations, we are this morning giving advance notice to customers who remain off supply, particularly those in rural and isolated communities, that it may take several days before power is restored.”

Large swathes of the North East of England were also hit by power cuts on Sunday afternoon, according to data from the Northern Powergrid, with areas of West and North Yorkshire also impacted.

Meanwhile, forecasters warned that the “coldest night of the season” is set to hit regions of the UK, with temperatures dropping to as low as -10C on Sunday night.

The Met Office has said it expects to see the mercury fall below zero in many parts of the country, including in cities such as London, where it could be -2C in the late hours of Sunday.

Dad-of-four and headmaster Francis Lagan was among those who died during the storm, after his car was struck by a falling tree on Dublin Road in Antrim on Friday.

A 35-year-old driver was also killed when a tree fell on his car on the B977 in Aberdeenshire around 5pm on Friday.

A third man - who has not been named - was crushed by a falling tree in Ambleside, Cumbria, late on Friday night.

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